METALLICA Got The Idea For Their “Snake Pit” From Restaurants

For the final three many years, Metallica has included a “snake pit” part at each present they play. The snake pit in a standing-room solely part actually in the midst of the stage, giving followers a 360-degree view of the band as they play. However why the hell does the snake pit exist, anyway? Whose thought was that?

In line with drummer Lars Ulrich in an interview with Zane Lowe on Apple Music 1, it began when one Metallica‘s managers identified that the very best seat in any restaurant waas truly the desk within the kitchen.

“I imply, the snake pit has been a part of what we have been doing for mainly 30 years going again to the Black Album days and… So the Snake Pit began off, one in all our managers again in New York within the late 80s, early 90s, the concept while you would go to a restaurant, that the very best seat within the restaurant was truly not in the home, however the very best seat was within the kitchen. So in loopy, cool eating places, if you happen to might one way or the other get into the kitchen and eat within the kitchen, you had been in there the place all of the motion was.

“So the concept got here out of that for that snake pit on the Black Album tour was mainly to be in the midst of the stage. So we had a stage that was formed like a diamond, Kirk was referring to it earlier. And there was 30, 40 spots in the midst of that stage. Radio contest winners. Buddies, household, a couple of loopy metalheads from across the viewers would find yourself in that snake pit and they might be on stage with us. After which it morphed and mainly for I assume 30 years now, the snake pit has been an integral a part of at the least a Metallica indoor present.

“After which within the stadiums once we’ve been enjoying exterior, it has been form of this extension of the stage. You’ve got seen it however they’ve by no means been like loopy huge. There’s been room for a few hundred right here, a pair hundred there, no matter. We had been advised between 900 to 1200, relying on the density, clearly. And as you realize, while you get into these items in numerous nations, the fireplace marshal has completely different and all this.

“However I imply, it’ll be unimaginable. We have been in right here for per week now, and we have been enjoying to the silence that you just identified. And this can be a huge place and it is a European soccer stadium, clearly it is additional to the perimeters. However when that is populated, not simply with all these lovely souls right here on all the perimeters and on the ground…”

Catch Metallica at one in all their seemingly infinite tour dates beneath. Get tickets here.

Present No. 1 opened every evening by Architects & Mammoth WVH, Present No. 2 by 5 Finger Demise Punch & Ice 9 Kills

5/17/23 Paris FR Stade de France (w/ 5 Finger Demise Punch & Ice 9 Kills)
5/19/23 Paris FR Stade de France (w/ Architects & Mammoth WVH)
5/26/23 Hamburg DE Volksparkstadion
5/28/23 Hamburg DE Volksparkstadion
6/16/23 Gothenburg SE Ullevi Stadium (w/ Volbeat instead of Architects)
6/18/23 Gothenburg SE Ullevi Stadium

Present No. 1 opened every evening by Pantera & Mammoth WVH, Present No. 2 by 5 Finger Demise Punch & Ice 9 Kills

8/4/23 East Rutherford NJ MetLife Stadium
8/6/23 East Rutherford NJ MetLife Stadium
8/11/23 Montreal QC Stade Olympique
8/13/23 Montreal QC Stade Olympique
8/18/23 Arlington TX AT&T Stadium
8/20/23 Arlington TX AT&T Stadium
8/25/23 Inglewood CA SoFi Stadium
8/27/23 Inglewood CA SoFi Stadium
9/1/23 Glendale AZ State Farm Stadium
9/3/23 Glendale AZ State Farm Stadium
10/3/23 St. Louis MO The Dome at America’s Heart
10/5/23 St. Louis MO The Dome at America’s Heart
10/10/23 Detroit MI Ford Area
10/12/23 Detroit MI Ford Area
5/24/24 Munich DE Olympiastadion
5/26/24 Munich DE Olympiastadion
6/7/24 Helsinki FI Olympic Stadium
6/9/24 Helsinki FI Olympic Stadium
6/14/24 Copenhagen DK Parken Stadium
6/16/24 Copenhagen DK Parken Stadium
7/5/24 Warsaw PL PGE Narodowy
7/7/24 Warsaw PL PGE Narodowy
7/12/24 Madrid ES Estadio Cívitas Metropolitano
7/14/24 Madrid ES Estadio Cívitas Metropolitano
8/2/24 Foxborough MA Gillette Stadium
8/4/24 Foxborough MA Gillette Stadium
8/9/24 Chicago IL Soldier Area
8/11/24 Chicago IL Soldier Area
8/16/24 Minneapolis MN US Financial institution Stadium
8/18/24 Minneapolis MN US Financial institution Stadium
8/23/24 Edmonton AB Commonwealth Stadium
8/25/24 Edmonton AB Commonwealth Stadium
8/30/24 Seattle WA Lumen Area
9/1/24 Seattle WA Lumen Area
9/20/24 Mexico Metropolis MX Foro Sol (w/ Greta Van Fleet no Pantera)
9/22/24 Mexico Metropolis MX Foro Sol
9/27/24 Mexico Metropolis MX Foro Sol (w/ Greta Van Fleet no Pantera)
9/29/24 Mexico Metropolis MX Foro Sol